Vector Tutorial: Colorful and Patterned Christmas Balls

Creating Shiny Vector Christmas Balls

It is December and Christmas is knocking the door. So it is time to create some Christmas balls. Let us make some shiny vector Christmas balls using Adobe Illustrator.  I believe it will be not only fun, also a great resource for making Christmas cards.

Step 1: Creating basic shape of a ball

The Christmas ball shape consists of just two basic shapes, circle for the body and a small rectangle for the neck.

Creating the basic shape

(1) Overlap both shapes as seen above.
(2) Open the “Pathfinder palette” and use the “Unite” tool to combine the two shapes into one.
(3) Cut the shape exactly in the middle to leave just one-half of the shape. To do that, you can overlap a rectangle big enough to cover half of the shape and use the “Minus Front” from the pathfinder palette (icon next to unite tool).

Step 2: Making the ball 3D

Converting the ball to 3D

Fill the whole shape with white and stroke to none. After that, go to Effect > 3D > Revolve. Set the parameters as shown in the 3D dialog box image below.

Converting the ball to 3D

To set the “shading color” click “More Options” to reveal the additional options. Use “Custom” as the Shading Color and set the color to red (R-255, G-0, B-0). click “Ok” to apply the 3D settings and produce the 3D ball shown below.

Step 3: Adding Shades and Highlights
Now let’s add some shade and highlights to our dull looking 3D ball. They consist of three shapes, one cresent moon shaped shade and two highlights in circle and droplet shape as shown in the image below.

Adding Shades and Effects

After creating the 3 shapes, apply the following effects and settings to each of them.

Shade: Fill with “Gradient” using “Fade to black” with settings as shown below. After filling with gradient, apply “Gaussian blur” effect (Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur) with radius set to “20″. Then set the “Transparency” (Window > Transparency) to “Multiply” with “70%” opacity.

Highlight 1: Select the circle shaped hightlight 1 and apply gradient fill using also “fafe to black” with similar settings shown below. Apply the same “Gaussian Blur” with radius set to 20. Set transparency to “Color Dodge” with 100% opacity.

Highlight 2: The second highlight is similar to the first in gradient fill settings and transparency (color dodge) but without the Gaussian blur effect.

So there you go. We have completed the first part of our tutorial where you should already have one shiny red ball similar to the image shown below.

Part 2 – The Crown
Step 1: Creating the crown shape
(1) Create a comb-liked shape similar to the one shown below. Add a middle node on top of the shape using the “Add anchor point tool” from the “Pen tool” then copy the shape.
(2) Move the node up a bit using the “Direct Selection tool” (white filled arrow from the toolbar) to create a similar curve shown below.
(3) Now paste the previously copied shape on front and do the same node shifting but this time moving it down to create a similar curve.

Applying color, shades and highlights to the crown are done in five easy steps shown below.

(1) Fill the bigger crown shape with R-187, G-135, B-50, then move inside just a little bit the two sides of the smaller crown shape on front (using direct selection tool on nodes to be moved).
(2) Select the front crown shape and copy it first (for the shadow), then apply “Fade to black” gradient again using settings shown above. Apply Gaussian blur with 2.0 radius and transparency set to 100% “screen”.
(3) Now paste the copied object at the back, fill it with black and apply Gaussian Blur with 2.0 radius and set transparency to “Multiply”.
(4) For the crown shade on top, create an oval shaped object on top, fill it again with “Fade to black” gradient with similar settingsas seen on the 4th image above and set the transparency to 100% “Multiply”.
(5) Finally, create an irregularly shaped object (an oval shape will do) as our final crown highlight on the top rightmost part of the crown. Fill it with white and apply Gaussian blur with 5.0 radius.

Step 2: Adding the string hook and string

(1) Create two circles then subtract the inner from the outer circle using the “minus front tool” from the pathfinder palette to create a donut shaped object.
(2) Create a bigger circle similar to the image shown above, then subtract it again from the donut shaped object.
(3) Curve both ends of the hook by editing the nodes using the “direct selection tool” (white arrow on the toolbar).
(4) Fill the object with linear gradient with colors from dark (R-96, G-57, B-19) to light (R-187, G-135, B-50).

Next thing is to add a string on the hook. You simply create two oval shape loops and shape the string using the “Pen tool”. Fill all objects with gradient from ochre (R-187, G-135, B-50) to yellow (R-249, G-237, B-50) with angle set to 24 degrees and slider location at 80% near yellow.

Putting it all together, at this point, our Christmas ball is almost done. We just need to add some shadow later on.

Part 3 – Adding shadow, changing colors and decorative patterns
Step 1: Adding shadow
Adding shadow is very simple. I have covered much about this in past vector tutorials. So quickly, you just need to create an oval underneath theChristmas ball. Position it somewhere on the left against the light’s direction.

Fill the shape with “Radial Gradient” from black to white “Aspect Ratio” set to 50%. After that, apply Gaussian blur with 20 pixel radius.

Step 2: Changing Colors
Changing our Christmas ball color is easy. Select the 3D ball object, then go to “Window > Appearance” to open the “Appearance Palette”. From the “Apperance Palette”, click “3D Revolve” to open again the 3D dialog menu.

With the 3D dialog menu open, select “More options” button to display additional options. Click the “Shading Color” current color tab (red in our example). The “Color Picker” dialog menu will open where you can now mix and set your new color. Click “ok” for both the color picker and 3D revolve dialog box to apply the new color.

We can try “green” this time.

Step 3: Adding decorative patterns
Let’s add some snow flake pattern to compliment our Christmas theme and add a variety of Christmas balls to our collection.
First, you need to copy your vector pattern and convert it to symbol. Open the “Symbol” palette by simply going to “Window > Symbol”. Drag your pattern to the symbol palette to convert it to symbol.

Now select the 3D Christmas ball and open the 3D dialog box similar to what we did while changing color. In the 3D dialog box, click the “Map Art” button.

In the “Map Art” dialog box, you basically need to do 3 things. First, select the surface where you will apply the pattern to. In our case, it’s surface number 2. Then select the symbol you’d like to use, in our example, it’s the snow flake symbol. Then lastly, turn on the “preview” option so you can see how your pattern is positioned in your surface. You can adjust the pattern’s position and size inside the Map Art dialog box. Clik “ok” when done to apply.

And here’s our new Christmas ball with some cool snow flake patterns.

Credit: Design Freebies